Black Candles

They are part of Japanese candlestick charting which is an ancient Japanese method of technical analysis. They were used in trading rice in 1600's and rice contracts from 1710 onwards. They were well organised by Homma Munehisa who is often referred as the father of the Japanese Candlestick charting.

Black candlesticks have a rectangular body. The top of this rectangle denotes opening price and the bottom denotes the closing price for that trading period, which may be a minute, hour, day, week or a month. They will have vertical lines above and below the rectangular body, which are called as wicks, shadows or tails. The top of the upper wick corresponds to the high price and bottom of the lower wick corresponds to the lowest price, recorded in that time period.



Modern computerized charts allow them to be variously colored. Usually they are colored blue or green.

Either of the top or bottom wicks may be short, long or missing. Some times body may be missing. All these variations and combinations give rise to different types candlesticks and their patterns.